Author
Topic: Solid state harddrives (Read 1986 times)

I would like to build a frontend that runs off of a solid state harddrive. However, they are VERY expensive, and so I'd like to buy the smallest one possible. What is the minimum harddrive space for linuxmce to operate effectively?

Actually, if it is there, and formatted/partitioned correctly the MD OS will use it as a swap. Theoretically this should improve the performance of the MD, but probably only slightly and only if you have very little RAM in it!

Yes, a DVD drive has no connection with the HDD. Either on a core, hybrid or MD. If you have a DVD drive then you can use it for that or even any other MD. You will still, of course, need a HDD for your core/hybrid to put LMCE on, just not for any other MDs. But that doesn't impact your DVD players.

For instance, you can have a Hybrid (Core + MD) in your entertainment centre, which has a system HDD and a DVD player. Then have any number of MDs around the house, all with neither HDD nor DVD player. And still play DVDs on any MD/Hybrid around the house. (to play a DVD on an MD, you pop the DVD in the Hybrid in your entertainment centre, then go to the remote MD and select it for play)

Actually, if it is there, and formatted/partitioned correctly the MD OS will use it as a swap. Theoretically this should improve the performance of the MD, but probably only slightly and only if you have very little RAM in it!

Yes, a DVD drive has no connection with the HDD. Either on a core, hybrid or MD. If you have a DVD drive then you can use it for that or even any other MD. You will still, of course, need a HDD for your core/hybrid to put LinuxMCE on, just not for any other MDs. But that doesn't impact your DVD players.

For instance, you can have a Hybrid (Core + MD) in your entertainment centre, which has a system HDD and a DVD player. Then have any number of MDs around the house, all with neither HDD nor DVD player. And still play DVDs on any MD/Hybrid around the house. (to play a DVD on an MD, you pop the DVD in the Hybrid in your entertainment centre, then go to the remote MD and select it for play)

Perfect! That's almost exactly what I was getting at. The MD will feed video to my amp? Is it pretty much just a dumb terminal? I'm looking to make the unit in the entertainment centre as quiet as possible. The core feeds video to the MD through networking I assume! Do I still need to translate it for my amp?

"The MD will feed video to my amp?" - Correct. The MD is just a computer like any other, really, so you can connect its video out to a TV directly, or pipe it through an amp if you wish. If through an amp, you can then also use the MD to control the amp as well, if you want. Via I/R, ethernet, serial, etc. to control volume, select inputs, and so on, to minimise the number of remote controls you need.

"Is it pretty much just a dumb terminal?" - This bit I don't follow. No, its a full computer, as above, just with no HDD, it mounts the "core's" HDD remotely and uses that for the operating system.

To clarify - although it sometimes appears as though all the "smarts" are in the core and the MDs are just "dumb terminals", that is not actually the case. From most perspectives, MDs are the same as the core. Only really house-wide functions are unique to the core, so the telephony, security, media management, etc are all _coordinated_ by the core. Thus although the commands used to start media playback (whether the source is local to the MD or remote) are coordinated and relayed through the core, the actual playback is entirely the MD. It connects to the media source (say a NAS device, a local/remote HDD, local/remote DVD drive, Internet radio station, etc) and pulls the data to itself, then decodes it as necessary and plays it out its AV interfaces, as configured.

So the core provides the central configuration database for the whole house, Internet access and firewalling for the whole house, the house "PABX", the security centre functionality and coordinates the media streams around the house that allow you to move a stream from one MD to another. But the individual tasks like playing a specific piece of media in a particular room is all MD, so they are in no sense "dumb", even if they are in a sense "slaves" to the core and bereft of HDDs (normally)!

So the core provides the central configuration database for the whole house, Internet access and firewalling for the whole house, the house "PABX", the security centre functionality and coordinates the media streams around the house that allow you to move a stream from one MD to another. But the individual tasks like playing a specific piece of media in a particular room is all MD, so they are in no sense "dumb", even if they are in a sense "slaves" to the core and bereft of HDDs (normally)!

Is the pxe boot all taken care of by linuxmce in the core? I plan on running my core system in the basement where it's cooler (and where noise isn't an issue)! Would/could all of those other functionalities (lighting controllers, z-wave controllers, security controllers) all be hooked in with that core system, or does it matter where in the network they hook into?